


The Blood Inside

by Rev9983



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Experimentation, Gen, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:17:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15410742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rev9983/pseuds/Rev9983
Summary: After a mad scientist experiment gone wrong, some humans started to have supernatural powers ranging from mind control to teleportation to razor sharp craws. When the government caught wind of this phenomenon, they made sure to register all of the human with ability into a database to keep track of them. Making rules to control and regulate this people that where now called "claret". However, damages were already done. There are groups of people who are think that clarets are vile beings that would only commit crime for there own benefits and and would try to cut a contact with them. There are people believe that, with these new abilities, they can use clarets to help solve crimes and help the worlds. Then, there are those that believe that clarets should be treated like normal humans beings and given a normal live if they choose to or not.





	1. Character Summary and Background

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story that's I've ever came up with a several of years ago and is now writing now. Every chapter is going to be the first draft so please for give the bad grammar and the non connecting story plot. This first chapter is just going to be the summary for the background of the plot and character information. This is also the first story that I'm actually writing so please be kind :x Constructive criticism is also appreciated. I might go back to read over what I wrote after a few days if I feel like it.

Some major details:

The school system is regulated to where from pre-k to 8th grade, the kids are separated between clarets and the regular kids. Undergoing different curriculum to unsure that they will be able to mingle with each other when they understand the rules. From 9th to 12th, the school will receive both to make sure that they will be able to work with each other. If any of clarets causes any problems, they will be taken to a special facility to be taken care of.

 

Character Description:

 **Shiki Kimura** (Age: 14) - unknown: Adopted son of the Kimura family. For certain reasons, his step-siblings and step-mother doesn't like him. However, his uncle adores him and his father is kind to him. He adopted at the age of 7 and was raised as a normal child since he did not exhibit supernatural power. He appears to be a short, white hair boy (about 5' 4) weight about 80 pounds with strange purple eyes. When he was found by his step father at the age of 6, he had no memories of his past life and had nothing on him beside for a pendant with a bloody black and white picture of a couple and a baby with the inscription, "Our precious Shiki".

 **Naoki Kimura** (Age: 15) - Human: Younger son of the Kimura family. He is sometimes shows kindness to his step-brother. However Shiki's strange appearance makes him incline to follow his sister's footstep in teasing and abusing is little brother for they believed that he was a claret. He seems a have a slight affection for Shinsetsu, the daughter of a family friend, but refused to acknowledge the feeling because Shinsetsu was a claret. He appears to be around 135 pounds stand at around 5' 9". He has short black spiky hair with dark brown eyes.

 **Aneko Kimura** (Age: 16) - Human: Oldest daughter of Kimura family. She completely hates her step brother and refuse to acknowledge him as part of the family. Believing that Shiki's original family abandon him for he was a troubled child. She would go out of her way to make sure that Shiki does not have any friend or gifts. She stands to be 5' 7" and weight about 125 pound. She has long black hair with brown eyes. 

 **Hayashi Shinsetsu** (Age: 16) - Claret: Only child of the Hayashi family. She has long dark brown hair with dark green eyes and stand about 5' 3", weighing about 110 lb. She had the ability to enter the minds of people, being able to see the memories, build or break wall on memories, and implant false memory if she wishes to do so. Her father works as a therapist and always remind her to use her powers for good and not evil. She is the only claret allowed to hang out with Aneko's friend group since they know each other for a long time. 

 **Makoto Kimura** (Age: 40) - Human: Father of the Kimura family. He work as the head doctor at the local hospital and love his family very much. He barely has time to stay at home, usually going home to just in time for dinner then going to sleep. But would take time off of work at spend time with his family. Taking Shiki but a strain on his relationship with his wife but he compensate having more outing with his family without Shiki there. He stand about 5'10" at around 162 lb. He has black comb back hair and dark brown eyes.

 **Kaori Kimura** (Age: 38) - Human: Mother of the Kimura family. She works as a lawyer at a small law firm in the city. She treats her actually children much better than she treats Shiki. She usually treats Shiki like a pest or ignore the fact that he is even there. She have dark medium length brown hair and brown eyes. Standing about 5' 6" at 120 lbs. 

 **Kimura Akihiko** (Age: 23) - Human: Oldest son of the Kimura family. Always from home to finish his master in biology, he was always curious about why some people have abilities while other don't. He treats all of his siblings the same, teasing them whenever he comes home but never over stepping the bound of being abusing. Occasionally, he would bring home gifts but would not bring Shiki anything since it seems like Shiki does not like anything that he gets. He has dark brown hair (long on the top but trimed on the side). He is about 5' 10", weight about 140 lb. 

 **Kagami Izumi** (Age: 16) - Claret: Ability: Mirror manipulation. Can see what is going on from the mirror and can even walk into and out of them if they are big enough. She is a small peptide girl with medium brown hair and hazy eyes. Kagami is a very cheerful girl that goes out of her way to befriend anyone that seems alone while making sure that she does not step over any boundaries. 

 **Ryuuichi Izumi** (Age: 17) - Claret: Ability: Speed, can move as quickly as he wants. He is the student body president of the school entering his last year in secondary school. He have a zero-tolerance bullying policy and well since certain punishment to anyone that he catches. He was long brown hair (for a boy) and hazy eyes.

 **Takumi** **Yamato** (Age: 35) - Human: Younger brother of Kaori. He live close to the Kimura's house and would take care of the the house and the kids while Kaori and Makoto were at work since his works as a fictional novelist. On his free time, he would spend hanging out with Shiki because he notice the mistreatment that was given to him.  

 

 


	2. The First Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of the school and Aneko friends are already after Shiki. However, it seems like Shiki was able to make some powerful friends. But, are they really his friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second Draft! Sorry for the errors and awkward phrasing in the first one. Hopefully this one is better.

It was a cold winter evening when the family decided to take a walk. A little girl that was about 8 years old was walking between her parents when she notice that little white flanks were falling from the sky. "Mommy! Daddy! Look! It's snowing!!!" she told her mom and dad, exciting about the fact that she might be able to play in the snow in the up coming day with her friends. Her mother smiled at her and reply in a calm and gentle voice, "yes Shinsetsu, it is."

As they continue their walk, they notice a man carry a small boy approached them. Shinsetsu's Dad realized that he was his childhood friend, Makoto. He greeted him and told Shinsetsu to greet him too, which she complied with a, "Hello Mr. Kimura." Then, Shinsetsu's dad asked, "Who is that boy?" and Makoto replied, "I don't know, I just found him on the streets..."

 

-8 years later- 

 

Shinsetsu was on her way to school when she felt someone jump on her.

"SHIN-CHAN~ GOOD MORNING!!!"

She push whoever it was off her to see that it was Miki, one of her middle school friend and following behind her and Kazashi another middle friend. "Oh, good morning Kaza-kun, Mi-chan," she responded. Miki jumped on her again while saying, "Ah! Let's have another great school-year!!!" Shinsetsu started pushing Miki telling her to get off of her which Kazashi just laugh at the scene that was in front of him. 

When they enter they classroom, Shinsetsu could hear a loud group talking at one of the corner of the classroom. It was a group of her so call "friends". Well, she would not actually call them her friends but her childhood friend, Aneko was part of that group. So she'll sometimes get invited to hangout with them and to be polite, she would. But the main reason why she would hang out with them is to make sure they over step they bound when it comes to teasing one of Aneko's little brother, Shiki. They decided to tease him because he wasn't her actual brother, just some kid that was that Mr. Kimura found on the street. She still doesn't know why he did that but she'll guess it's because he was just too kind. Aneko, on the other hand, hated him. She have never accepting him in the family and she'll probably never will. From what Shinsetsu could get, Aneko hated him because she believe that Shiki was a claret. After a certain incident with a claret, Aneko seemed to hate them with the exception of a few. She was included in these few because 1. their dad were long time friends, and 2. her ability weren't deadly.

In the group, there was Aneko and four other people. Washi, a tall bald guy standing around 6 ft and pretty well build. His best friend, Zen. Zen had bleached blonde hair with dark blue eyes. He medium build and was a tad bit shorter than Washi. Washi's girlfriends, Mei Lin, was sitting on his desk. She had short red hair. She was pretty slender and was pretty tall, about the same height with Zen. Shinsetsu did not know much about her because they just started dating a couple of weeks ago. Then, there was Emiko. The loudest in the group who like to tease anyone whenever she finds an opening. She was the smallest in the group, standing about 5' 2" with light brown hair and had these gigantic big green eyes. 

As the group was talking, Zen said, "Hey Aneko, I heard that both of your brothers are in the upper-secondary level this year."

Mei lin, new to the group, asked, "What?! I didn't know Ane-chan have twin little borthers!?"

"Oh yea, you haven't meet them before." Washi said as he tugged her to get off his desk.

Emiko obnoxiously stated, "Shiki younger than Naoko, but they are starting high school together."

Aneko started to get annoy of her friends bombarding her with what seems to be statements more than questions asked, "Why are you making such a big deal about them?"

Washi immediately replied with a "Cuz I like Naoko.." but was cut off by hysterical laughs from the girls. "You are so gay!" Emiko quickly added 

Washi clarified that he liked Naoko as a brother while holding his girlfriend as if to ensure them that he wasn't gay. That was when Shinsetsu joined the group, hitting Washi on the shoulder as she sat down beside them. "And you want to pester Shiki, right?"

Zen look up from whatever he was doing on his phone when he hear her and greeted her while Emiko asked Aneko, "why did Shiki bleached his hair?" Before Aneko could reply, Zen said "He probably did it for attention since he just an unwanted child" and him and Washi snickered at the comment. Kazashi, who was sitting close by, was about to say how he didn't understand how it was funny when a school announcement went off telling the student to go to the school auditorium for the Opening Ceremony.

 

* * *

 

 

The school auditorium was huge, with a stage in the front with white curtain in the back. The floor was polish like a basketball court and the was no chair on the floor. The class was separated when 1st year - 4th years. They stood there listening to the principal talk about the rules and explaining how the system works for the 1st year and reminding everyone else of the reason to mingle humans with clarets. Other announcement about changes in the faculty and stuff where mention but Aneko payed no mind to them. She wanted it to be over as soon as posibly so he can find her little brother, Naoko. She had about hour before class start to burn while the teachers talks to the student counsel and go over stuff.

When the ceremony was finally over, Aneko wonder off the groups to look for a little bother. She could hear her friends following behind her but she was to busy looking for Naoko to care. When she found the spiky hair tall boy, she jump him screaming,

"Lil' Nao~"

Naoko responded with a scream when he was greeting by Washi and Zen. He greeted them back but as soon as he saw Shinsetsu walking by them. He pushed his sister off him and waved to the dark hair girl.

"Hey Shinsetsu,"

She replied with a "oh hey" then process to asked where Shiki was. Naoko feeling a little hurt and annoyed by the questions replied "How am I supposed to know. Was I supposed to keep an eye on himself all of the time." Aneko grabbed her brother and pulled him away from Shinsetsu.

"I told you that we had free time after the opening ceremony and to keep him close. And you let him slip away when he got the chance?!"

"Well, sorry, he's a slipper-"

Before Naoko could finish his sentence some in the group suggested that they go and look for him. But it wasn't hard to find a small, white hair kid. 

 

* * *

 

Shiki was a loner. He usually prefers to spend his time alone and wasn't good at talking or making friends. _Thank God, I got separate from Naoko_  he thought to himself as he was walking to his class _._  His peace did not lasted longer when someone suddenly grab one of his arms. 

"WHAT THE-" Shiki yelled as he turned to see Zen, one of Aneko's bastard of a friends.

"Let go of me!"

More of Aneko's friends started to appear behind Zen at this point.

"We found you~" Washi chimed in.

A girl Shiki have never seen before was looking at him and say "Oh, so this is Shiki?" while Emiko grabbed Shiki's other arm. "Yup, That's Shiki-chan."

Shiki was annoyed by the comment because they were not close or even friends snared, "Don't call me chan." That's when he saw his sister. A little but of fear enter his enter mind when he saw how annoyed she was and he knew that even if he wanted to, he could not get away because everyone in her group were bigger and stronger than him. Shiki could hear the pure detestation in his sister voice.

"You were supposed to stay with Nao."

He just stood there and glared at her, trying to hide any ounce of fear that he had. He was pretty sure what was going to happen next. Then, he felt a knee connect to his stomach and fell to the ground. Before Shiki could even get up, Washi got on him and started to punch him making sure to avoid his face.

Shinsetsu quickly got there to stop them but before she could step in, Miki grabbed her and said, "you know that they are not going to stop." Before Shinsetsu could retort , she heard someone behind her yelled

"HEY! Stop that right not!"

Washi stopped and yelled back, "Mind you own business."

The unknown male walk up a little closer and replied, "Do you want me to beat you up instead?" Cracking his fist as if he was actually going to back up his statement. That's when Zen grab Washi and told him to let it go and they can deal with "that" later. They left with the rest of the group, leaving Shiki on the ground. 

The male student approached Shiki, lending a hand to help him. "Are you okay?" There was a kindness in his voice that made Shiki trust him but didn't reply, unsure of this person was a friends or not. He garb the male's hand and got up. Then, he heard a high pitched girl calling the male from far away.

"RYUU-NII! Helping someone again?!"

Shiki was a girl with brown hair in a pigtail walk up to them. She seems to be observing him for some reason. Then, she took a long deep whiff on his neck, which made him jump. The male pushed the girl away from Shiki and asked,

"Kagami, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing, can't I just hangout with my brother before class?" She smugly smile as she said it.

The male just rolled his eyes and said "Yea, but we are so close not that some people actually thought that we were dating. What happen to your friends." Kagami replied telling him that her friends had moved because of they parent's jobs and that most of the kids in her class this year are jerks. She peered over her brother shoulder to look at Shiki. The male notice this and turned back to Shiki.

"Hi, I'm Ryuuichi, the student body president and this is-"

"HI, I'm KAGAMI IZUMI. YOU CAN CALL ME KAGAMI OR KAGA-CHAN. OR EVEN KAGA-NEESAN IF YOU WANT!"

Shiki just stared at them, dumbfounded by what the girl just said. After a couple of seconds, she shook his head and introduced himself as "Shiki Kimura." That's when Ryuuichi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wait, Kimura... so you're related to Aneko???" He seemed to be confused. Shiki only replied with a "Kind of." Before Ryuuichi could ask anymore question the bell started to ring, and they all departed to quickly get to their classes. 

During class, Shiki started to fell the pain from the punches so got from Washi. He slowly pull out his phone to contact his "uncle", Yamato, to pick him up. Yamato-ojisan is his step-mother's brother. Unlike his sister, he is actually kind to Shiki and would sometimes even spoiled Shiki. Shiki had no interest in getting caught by Aneko's group again and if Yamato-oujisan was picking him up then he'll know something is wrong if Shiki was not at the gate after school.

The rest of the day was surprisingly calm since he spend most of the time in his classroom, skipping lunch to make sure that he didn't get caught again. No one in his class seemed to be interested in him and it's not like he was planning to make any friends. In a couple of day, they were going to join a club or two of their choice. And that's was want he was looking forward to.

After class, he heard a familiar voice at his classroom door. He looked up to see Kagami waving at him with a wide grin on her face. She asked him if he wanted to walk home together, but Shiki declined telling her that someone was picking him up. However, she insisted to at least stay with him until Yamamoto-san picked him up. He packed up his stuff and walked out with her. He could see Aneko's group in front of Naoko's classroom at the end of the hall. Washi seemed to be giving him the death glare but he did not care. As Shiki and Kagami was walking, Ryuuichi spotted them and excused himself for a bit from his group to catch up with them. He noticed a man at the front gate waving at Shiki.

"So.. you have a ride to take you home? Aneko and Naoko isn't coming with you?"

Shiki was confused about how Ryuuichi knows about Aneko and Naoko but he just nodded and say, "Well, they usually hangout with their friends after school." Ryuuichi had a sad expression when Shiki said that but he just ignored it and said good bye and enter the car.

 

* * *

 

As the car was leaving, Kagami did a little spin and smile.

"That boy smells delicious..."

Ryuuichi glared at her, "You can't!"

"I know, I was just stating that fact. It's not like I'm planning to do anything bad~"  


	3. Next weekend

"GREAT, now Shiki's friend with Ryuuichi Izumi!" Washi exclaimed as he kicked a random rock. Miki mocked them by asking why they were upset but she already knew the answer. Zen replied anyways,

"Because it'll be harder to mess with him if they are buddy-buddy."

Shinsetsu want to leave the group for the day. She saw Shiki leave with Yamamoto-san so she knew that he was okay. She grabbed Kazashi and whispered

"Lets go somewhere else."

"Okay" Kazashi replied and in a louder voice, "Hey, Miki-chan wanna go to the bakery with us?"

"SURE~"

Naoko wanted to hangout with Shinsetsu, so he suggested that they should hangout with the group after school from now on. But Kazashi just smirked. "Umm yea, we don't want to." Shinsetsu playfully hit him and said bye to Naoko, Aneko, and Aneko's friends.

As Shinsetsu, Miki, and Kazashi entered the shop, Miki asked Shinsetsu "Hey, why are you still hanging out with them?" 

Shinsetsu looked at her friends for a bit as she tried to find a why to explained to it them. Aneko and Naoko were like family to her and their parents her best friends. It would be awkward if all the sudden she tells her dad that she does want to be friendly with them anymore. Not to mention, she also wanted to know why they treated Shiki so badly. She remember to first day she meet him when Kimura-san was carrying him to the hospital. He was just a small boy with cuts and bruises all over his body. She shivered at the memory. As they sat down at an empty table, Shinsetsu said,

"I just want to know why they are treating Shiki so badly."

"Well, you can relax now," Kazashi smile.

"Why?" 

"With Ryuuichi looking after him, you don't need to be a mama hawk watching over Shiki to make sure that he's not getting bullied." Miki laugh, still looking at the menu. Shinsetsu was befuddled by that comment. Sure she was worried about him but she wasn't watching him like a hawk. Was she? And even then, she was pretty sure that her friends were worry about him to.

"Weren't you guy worried about him too?!"

"Not as bad as you." Miki replied as she put down her menu. "And why are you so worry about him anyways?"

Shinsetsu flashed back to the scene of the frail boy in Kimura-sam arms. "It's cuz, I there when Kimura-san found him and he was-"

"Aww.. how cute" Miki cut in.

"He was unconscious."

The waiter came up to get their orders. Then, Kazashi continued

"Wait, so like, you found him in an alley or something? Like he was living on the street?!"

"How old was he?!" Miki added.

"Around 5, maybe? But when he woke up in the hospital, he couldn't remember anything beside his name."

Kazashi had a concerned look on his face. "I wonder what happen to his parents."

There was an eerie silent at the table until Miki broke it. "They didn't abandon him when he was that young, did they?"

Shinsetsu, flashed back to the hospital when the police was asking Shiki questions. A similar question pop up during the interrogation and Shiki didn't have the answer to it. The only thing Shinsetsu was able to say to her friends was, "Who knows."  

 

* * *

 

 

The trip home took about 15 minutes. He was thank Yamato-ojisan for the ride becuase it would have taken an hour to get home and that did not include trying to avoid Aneko's and Naoko's groupies. Yamato-ojisan spend most of the ride telling Shiki about his day. He knew that Shiki wasn't good with words. Finally, he asked, "So, how was your day?"

Shiki considered telling him about the incident with Aneko's friends. But changed his mind because it will just be another case of he said, she said and Aneko had Naoko to back her up. So Shiki would probably lose that fight, well technically it would always be a losing battle.

"It like any normal day."  He was hoping that Yamato-ojisan does not pry anymore. As they approached the gate to Shiki's home, Yamato-ojisan asked,

"Well, who were does kids that were walking with you."

"Oh, they were these two sibling that I meet. They're nice."

 Yamato smile. "It's good to hear that you made some friends."  

Shiki got out of the car, unsure about what to say. He thanks Yamato-ojisan again and walking into the house. He should have at least an hour to make something to eat before his step-mother and step-siblings comes home. They never like to eat with him so he usually eat quickly because they did and locked himself up in his room. However, when he enter the kitchen, he saw his step-mother making dinner already.

"You eating dinner with us. Makoto have some news to tell us so yea. Don't cause any trouble."

Shiki paused. He wanted to say something like it probably did concerned him and did want to eat with them. He must had been thinking for a well because his step-mother seemed to be getting irritated with him being there. "If you done, then go up to your room until I tell you that dinner is ready." With that, Shiki went into his room and changed out of his uniform.

 

* * *

 

Naoko was watching Zen and Aneko play on shooting game at the arcade. Washi, Mei Lin, and Emiko went to the claw machine to get some "cute" bear plush or something. Aneko and Zen played a couple more rounds when the others came back. Mei Lin was holding a life-size pink seal. Naoko raised an eye brow.

"What happen to the bear?"

"It was too hard" Washi whine as he leaned on Naoko. 

When Aneko and Zen was done with their rounds, she looked at the time. "It's almost 5:30. Naoko and I have to go. Our parents wants us home before 6." They was said their good bye with Washi reluctantly getting off of Naoko.

They should be able to make it home in time, since they live about a 30 minute walk from the arcade. As they were walking home, Aneko seemed to notice that something was bothering Naoko. "Hey, you look pissed off," she said. Naoko not wanting what he was pissed off about just made up a dumb excuse. 

"Well, dad doesn't come home til 7-8, so why do we have to come home so early."

Aneko grinned. "Apparently they have something to tell us, so he's coming home early." With that, they quickly walked home just in time for dinner. Their dad had just got home and gave both of them a hug. They walked in together to be invited by a sweet aroma of stir-fried meat. Their father told them to help their mother well he go up to get their brother. Aneko rolled her eyes at the comment, well Naoko just listen to his father and asked their mother if she needed help. 

 

* * *

 

The dinner table was a normal rectangular table. Both parents sit on the ends of the tables with the children sitting on the side. Aneko and Naoko was sitting together because they did want to sit with Shiki. Shiki looked at his food, unsure if he should eat it or not. The last time he ate with the family, the mother slap the food from his spoon and said that it wasn't for him. Of course, that was when he had just entered the family and he was never actually invite to eat dinner with them. He decide that maybe this time was different and took a bite of his food. It was good. He thanked Kimura-okaasan for the food but she just glared at him. Brushing him aside, she said,

"You brother is coming home this weekend so we were thinking about taking a trip to the beach."

Shiki was quiet. He was pretty sure that there was some kind of catch since he had never went on a trip with them. Aneko was to be excited about the news, while Naoko asked if it was inconvenience since school just started.

"Apparently, something happened to one of the lab facilities at the university but they decided that it was best to postpone all of the classes until farther notices."

"Another thing, my division is temporarily getting shut down for maintenance so I can't go to work for a while."

"Oh, what happen?" Aneko asked.

"A claret accidentally blew up in a part of the building up when he had a seizure. It's not bad. Just a bunch of smoke but the officials wanted to make sure that everything was safe before we can enter again."

 When they were finished with the food. Kimura-okaasan instructed Shiki just put his dishes into the skin and go to his room. She also added something about how to could not look at his disgusting face anymore right as he was leaving the room. He didn't bother to comment on the statement because he already knows how she felt about him. He went into his room and locked the door.

It was the only room on the third floor. There was a giant window in the middle of ceiling. On the opposite side of the door, he bed sat their with his chest of art supplies. His desks sat on the wall with a hallway to the bathroom and in the hallway was his closet. Shiki went into his bathroom and started to get ready to sleep when there was a knock on his door. A chill went up his spine. He slowly walked up to the door when he heard his father on the other side. He let him in and went to this bed as Kimura-otousan pulled a stool to the side of the bed.

"So about the trip... You know that you are not going, right?"

Shiki just lied there and nod. "And Takumi is coming with us." Shiki paused at that. Usually, Yamato-ojisan would stay with him while the family went on their trips. 

"You have the choice of staying here by yourself or going to a friend's house. You already have the spare key so it's okay. And and trust you to be able to take care of yourself. It took a while for me to convince Kaori that you can stay here by yourself, but I got her to get on board with that plan. If you are okay with that."

"I'll think about it."

And with that answer, Kimura-otousan kissed Shiki good night and got up. He went to the door and it seemed like he wanted to say some more things to Shiki but just locked the door and left.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worked on this until 5am so there might be a bunch of errors. Hopefully, I'll get fast as time goes by.


	4. Gifts

After Makoto's talk with Shiki, he had a flashback about when he first found Shiki in a dark alleyway.

> He was on his way home from work when he saw something moved in his peripheral. He saw something, no someone curled into a ball, trying to keep warm in the cold. It's was a small little boy about 4 years old with captivating snowy white locks. He was just skin and bones, clearly not eating enough. What broke Makoto's heart when he went up closer to the boy was the bruises and cut on his tiny body. He thought to himself,  _I have to help this boy, let's take him to the hospital for some check up and I find a place for him to stay and look for this parents after they're done looking at him._ When he bent down and picked up the boy, he notice some strange bruises on the boy's elbow creases that looked similar to punctual marks. This same kinds that you would get when getting a shot or having your blood drawn. But the boy had a tremendous about of them, varying in different sizes. He tried to keep his thoughts away from thinking about all of the possibility of what this boy had went through by focusing on how to help him now. He lifted the boy with ease and carried him in to the hospital. 

He stared at Shiki for a while before he got up and kissed him goodbye. As he was walking out the door, he noticed the pedant that Shiki was holding when he found him. He was about to turn back and tell Shiki what happen to who he believed was Shiki's parents but decided that it wasn't wise since the police were not 100% sure that they were the same people. He closed the door and went down stairs to think.  

 

* * *

 

Shiki got up early to get ready for school. He wanted to make sure to leave before Aneko and Naoko. He got downstairs to find a couple of yen on the counter for him beside two bento boxes. Kimura-otosan must had put it there when he woke up. He quickly went to the local convenient store to buy an onigiri then made his way to school. 

As Shiki was walking to school, he started to think about this talk with Mr. Kimura. He didn't want to spend the weekend alone at the house but he also didn't want to stay over at another person's house. He saw a similar brown hair pairs as he saw closer to the school now. Wait, maybe I can ask them if I can come over during the day then go home at night. He picked up his pace to catch up to them. Then, he slowed down again. He did not know if they are actually nice or pretending to be nice. He decided to watch them for a couple of days before asking them for any favors. 

 

After a couple of day, he notice that Ryuuichi and Kagami don't get along with Aneko's group. Whenever Kagami comes up to say hi to him, Shiki would catch daggers coming from someone in Aneko's group. They also stopped bothering after Ryuuichi offered for him a eat luch with them. This was great for him but why did they stopped? Where they scared of Ryuuichi and Kagami? Why would they be scared of them? Did they have some kind of history? Should he be scared of them? Feeling like he was starting to overthink about the situation and pushed these thoughts aside. They were the only people that were going out of their why to help him at that school so what harm could they be.

 

On Thursday morning, Shiki decided to asked them if he could come over at their place for weekend. He spotted him in the courtyard during lunch. He padded up to them and sat down. "Hey"

Immediately, Kagami turned around. A big grin on her face when she saw who it was. She greeted him with a big hug, which was still strange to Shiki since they are not even close.

"Ummm... I ask both of you for a favor?" 

"Sure. What do you need?" Ryuuichi replied.

"Well, my family is going out for the weekend and I'm not going. Don't ask" he quickly added when it looked like Ryuuichi was about to interrupt. "So I was wonder if it's okay if I come over to visit...like..during the day..... If you don't live too far from me of course. I'm not planning to stay over or anything so you don't have to worry about that."

Kagami had an even bigger grin now. "Sure, I don't mind. Our parents won't be home for awhile so it should be fine! Right, Nii-san?!"

"I'm still going to call Dad to make sure that it's okay."

Even though it was not a definite yes, Shiki was still happy that he won't be spending the week alone in that house. They finished their lunch with some light conversation and departed to their classes. 

 

* * *

 

Aneko was annoyed. She couldn't pick on Shiki anymore since he's now friends will Ryuuichi and she'll get in trouble if Ryuuichi suspect anything and was able to gather evidences against her friends and her. Fucking student body president and his zero-tolerates to bullying. Some incident happen last year but an upperclassman got in trouble for bully outside of school so there was no way she'll mess when Shiki at home too. If only there was a way to make them not be friends anymore. Then, there would be no way for anyone to turn them in to the school board. She'll cooked up something later, but right now she'll just have to deal with it. At least she'll get to spend time with her family without that thing there with them. 

She can't wait for the day to be over. Her other brother was coming home tonight and she'll have to finish packing tonight to load up the car. It was also a long weekend so the trip will be even longer. Then, their parents will come to school and picked them up and head straight to the location. After school, she said bye to her friends, reminding them to leave Shiki alone for now. 

While they were packing the car, Aneko overheard Shiki telling her father that he was planning to stay over a "friend" place.  _Oh great, now he's going to be closer to those them siblings,_ she thought to herself. Hopefully, she'll be able to concoct something but it's going to be difficult knowing how Ryuuichi is. But she wasn't going to let this ruining her trip. 

 

* * *

 

Shiki got the okay from Ryuiichi that night. He went up to Kimura-otosan to tell him about his plan. His stepfather just smile at him and told him that he left some money on the table for him to food (either groceries or prepared food) and that he could used whatever was in the kitchen. Shiki was surprise and mention something about his stepmother but Kimura-otosan said that he'll take care of her and that Shiki doesn't have to worry as long as he clean up after himself. 

With that, he said good bye and good night to his stepfather and allowed him to continue packing for their trip. When he walk back into the house, his oldest step brother was there. Akihiko looked at him for a bit and pulled him to the side. "Hey, I know you haven't really liked anything I got you and this isn't very much but I hoped you like it." He grabbed Shiki's hand and puting something into it. Yamato-ojisan was standing at the hallway when Akihiko got up.

"Do you mind if we talk for a bit?"

Shiki nodded, and walked into his room with Yamato behind him. He said down at his desk while Yamato pulled up a chair beside him. "I heard that you are going to some friends place for the weekend."

Shiki looked up. "I'm not planning to stay there, I just going to hang out during the day. I don't want to bother them by actually stay over and they are a thirty minute walk so they are not too far."

"Well, if you have any problems, call me and I'll leave and come back. I wish you could come on this trip with us but your mother can be so stubborn sometime."

"She not my mother," Shiki whispered.

Yamoto just sigh and got up. "Oh yea, here is your copy of the house key. Now you don't have to call me whenever you come home" He placed the key on Shiki's desk.

Shiki widen his eye for a wide. His stepmother had always refused to give him a copy. He was able to slipped a thank you and good night to Yamato-ojisan before he left the room. He returned them with a smile and left the room. Shiki open he palm to see a bracelet with black braided leather and a gold charm. The gold charm had a flower etched onto it. He decided to hook the key onto the bracelet and put them into his bag. If Aneko or Naoko knows about this, they might do something to bracelet. Shiki stopped his train of thoughts because it could go to places that he didn't want to go to. He started his nightly routines of taking a shower, brushing his teeth, and washing his face then head to bed. 

**Author's Note:**

> There are other minor characters that I don't think is necessary to go into details. I might change or update the bio something in the future.


End file.
